Iron Man seeks redemption

[DainBramaged]

IF YOU haven't given in to the peer pressure from coworkers and friends to see this film, do so now. Directed by acclaimed Swingers creator Jon Favreau, Iron Man premiered this past weekend to sold-out theaters across the country, far surpassing expectations, even for the most skeptical critics.

The film begins in a patriotic fervor when Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), the womanizer, drunk and CEO of weapons manufacturing company Stark Industries, is captured by Afghan terrorists while trying to sell his new "freedom line" of high-tech weapons of mass destruction.

Spending three months in captivity, Tony Stark has a change of heart. Literally. Complete with a newly implanted electromagnetic heart, Tony Stark realizes in captivity that his company has been profiting from and thereby supporting terrorism in Afghanistan (Taliban, anyone?).

He escapes by building an iron suit made from weapons his company sold to his captors. Stark Industries organizes a press conference upon his return, where against the board of director's wishes, he announces a new mission: to destroy all the weapons Stark Industries has created.

From here, stock markets plunge, corporate villains are created, and Tony Stark gets to work on the new and improved body armor (with some trial and error). The technophiles will salivate with every step in the production process, and there is something ultimately rewarding about going through the process with Tony Stark of making oneself into a superhero.

This is one of strengths of the character development throughout the movie, and what sets it apart from many other superhero films. One is always reminded that--despite the ability to take flight over the Pacific, dodge U.S. aircraft, and produce firepower capable of destroying an entire city from his elbow--Iron Man is, well, just a man.

http://socialistworker.org/2008/05/09/iron-man-seeks-redemption


The article is worth the read, and the movie was just great, really.

Domestic Total as of May. 9, 2008: $141,934,000